I’ve been familiar with the idea of the ‘Wise Builder’ in scripture for a long time:
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Mt 7:24–27
Every wise woman builds her house,
but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands (Prov 14:1)
I often associate the idea of wisdom with making good choices, and so have always read this story of the wise man building his house as a picture of a person making a right choice.
In my study of 1 Corinthians 3:10 this morning, I noticed an interesting comparison when Paul describes how the church/temple/body of Christ is being built:
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care (NIV)
In my CSB version of the Bible, the word ‘wise’ is replaced with ‘skilled’:
I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder
In the commentary on 1 Corinthians by A. R. Fausset, it says:
His skill is shown in his laying a foundation. The unskilful builder lays none (Lu 6:49). Christ is the foundation (1 Co 3:11). (Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 268.)
I found it interesting that here, the concepts of ‘wise’ and ‘skillful’ are used as synonyms. It has helped me see with more clarity what it looks like to be a wise builder. I think it would be fair to say that as the wise man built his house on the rock who is Jesus our foundation, it was also with great skill. This reminds me of Exodus 31:2-5 when God gave great skill to Bezalel the craftsmen to construct the tabernacle. This skill was from the Holy Spirit, for the building up of God’s people, to the glory of God. I think there is a clear connection between being filled with the Spirit and building our house with skill as a wise man on the foundation of Christ.